Canada’s ultra-liberal prime minister has admitted that immigration levels to his country are too high and says the number of new arrivals must be “controlled.”
Addressing an audience at a housing announcement in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday, Justin Trudeau said the number of temporary foreign workers coming to Canada has increased at a rate “far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb”.
The prime minister, known for his liberal stance on immigration, said the number of temporary immigrants in Canada has more than tripled in the last seven years and must be “controlled.”
“Whether it’s temporary foreign workers or international students in particular, they have grown at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb,” Trudeau said.
‘To give an example, in 2017, two per cent of Canada’s population was made up of temporary immigrants. We now have 7.5 percent of our population made up of temporary immigrants. “That is something we need to get back under control.”
Addressing an audience at a housing announcement in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday, Trudeau said the number of foreign workers entering Canada has increased at a rate “far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb” and must “get under control.”
The prime minister, known for his liberal stance on immigration, said the number of temporary immigrants to Canada has more than tripled in the last seven years. (Pictured: Asylum seekers unload their suitcases from a van while waiting to enter Canada)
“We want to reduce those numbers,” Trudeau continued.
“It’s a responsible approach to immigration that continues our permanent residents, as we have done, but also maintains a little more control over the temporary immigration that has caused so much strain on our communities.”
Canada is battling a 130 per cent increase in the number of Mexicans, Haitians and others seeking asylum there, overwhelming shelters and leaving officials struggling with an $822 million crisis.
Shelter systems in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and other Canadian cities are over capacity, prompting their Liberal government to take steps to discourage northward flows of people.
Asylum applications from Canada increased by 130 per cent to 137,900 between 2022 and 2023.
Canadian agents stop asylum seekers as they enter Canada at the Roxham Road entry point with the US.
Canadian officials verify the credentials of two people who entered Canada via Roxham Road at the Canada-United States border.
Canada’s geography means it sees a fraction of the irregular border crossings as the United States, but there has been an increase in the number of people arriving by air, particularly from Mexico.
Shelter systems in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver are also over capacity, exacerbating the shortage of available places for the homeless population.
The influx has prompted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to make policy changes.
Mexico is by far the largest country of origin for those seeking asylum in Canada, followed by Haiti, Turkey, India and Colombia.
The rapid growth in the number of asylum seekers in Canada comes alongside record population increases, driven by foreign workers and international students.
The number of international students in the country has tripled to around 1 million in less than a decade.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has made policy changes to address the surge in migrants.
Protesters demonstrate against Canada’s regularization of undocumented immigrants in Montreal, Quebec
Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton, Ontario, calls Canada’s immigration crisis “an unpleasant situation”
Frustration over the housing shortage has forced the Trudeau government to scale back its immigration ambitions in recent months. Among other policies, it is limiting the number of study permits abroad.
Last year, Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to end a pact that had resulted in asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the United States at a location known as Roxham Road.
In February, the Trudeau government reimposed visa rules for many Mexican citizens.
Last month, Canada said it plans to reduce the size of its temporary resident population, a group that includes asylum seekers and foreigners with temporary work permits.
In Peel, a Toronto suburb, the shelter system is operating at 300 per cent capacity, with asylum seekers occupying more than 70 per cent of the beds and many more camping on the streets, officials say.
“It’s an ugly situation,” Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton, Ont., said this week.
“If Canada is going to allow more asylum seekers into our country, we need to make sure they are not left stranded and, frankly, what we’ve seen is too much of that.”
Asylum seekers make it harder for Canada to manage its local homelessness problem
Mexico, Haiti, Türkiye and India led the group of asylum applications in Canada in 2023
In Brampton, about 80 per cent came from five African countries, including Kenya and Nigeria, Brown said.
The numbers have risen due to overlapping conflicts and crises in other nations, the resumption of international travel after the pandemic and Canada’s expansion of the legal basis for asylum claims.
The Trudeau government, under pressure from Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, offered about C$360 million, or $265 million, in January to provinces and cities.
This was to help deal with the “extraordinary temporary housing pressures” on asylum seekers.
It says it has transferred about C$750 million to other levels of government since 2017 to help with asylum-related housing costs. That adds up to 1.1 billion Canadian dollars, $822 million.